So Not Fair
by WolvesandFae
Summary: A surprise visit to a cousin turns into a struggle to survive for Jade Rays as she deals with corrupt government programs, well meaning strangers, a galactic war moved to Earth, and the challenge of raising four babies created in the hell where her life changed.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** First time posting a story, finally got around to this. If there are any spelling or information mistakes let me know please. If there are any questions please ask and I'll try to answer.

Enjoy my first attempt at this. But remember this, any bad attitudes and nastiness will be treated with the same in return. We're all here to write and thus should be courteous to one another.

No idea where this story will go, but it will have some couples in it and the rating may change.

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_**Fixed:**_minor spelling errors.

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**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

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_Chapter 1_

Everything hurt, even places and things she didn't think could hurt. There was nothing but darkness surrounding her. It closed in on her like someone trying to suffocate her with a really thick blanket. Her hearing was spotty at best; fading in and out giving her just snippets of the hell she found herself in. The tests were positive. Probability of success was close to seventy percent. If she didn't live they would try again.

Such frightening things.

For a moment, through the haze of pain and drugs, she remembered what her life had been like before.

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Singing loud to the American anthem with the windows rolled down and the music turned up loud Jade Ray felt all her worries fly away as the road flew under the wheels of her classic 1980 Ford F-250. After spending a few years and a lot of money she had turned the rust bucket she had found into a beauty that looked as if it had come straight out of the factory. Man she loved this truck with its classic red paint job and versatility. With a little love and luck she wouldn't need to replace this car for a while, which was great seeing as she needed to get through college.

The anthem finished and the country music came back forcing Jade's mind away from the fear of starting college in the fall. This was her summer and she was going to enjoy it even if it almost killed her! Neatly pulling off the highway and onto the exit ramp the small town Massachusetts girl grinned with excitement. She had been traveling and sightseeing her way across the country for a while now and was looking forward to seeing her cousin Sam Witwicky. They were second cousins, no wait, third…she thought. The family tree was so large on both her grandparents' sides from both of her parents that it was hard to remember how one was related to another.

Seeing a small diner Jade pulled into the parking lot and stopped the truck. It had been hours since she had last eaten a full meal or used a bathroom. She jumped out of her precious truck and locked it before walking into the diner. First she went to the bathroom for some sweet relief that she had been ignoring for the last few miles. Then she patiently waited for a seat to open before landing herself a seat at the counter where all the good smells stuck to. Mouth watering she glanced over the regular menu before looking at the specials. They had fish, sandwiches, some sort of ethnic food that she had no clue how to pronounce, and what was said to be a full turkey dinner with all the fixings. No contest, she ordered the turkey dinner with a large glass of milk earning a skeptical look from the waitress who looked only a couple of years younger than her.

Absentmindedly Jade gently swung her Wolverine boot brand covered feet, avoiding hitting the counter or her stool, and pulled out the map she had stashed in a back pocket of her worn light blue jeans. Laying the map on the counter she leaned slightly forward to get a better look, ignoring how her white tank top rode up slightly in the back since her open, light blue plaid vest covered anything skin that might show. Jade tucked her messy red hair behind her pierced ears as her bright blue eyes scanned the map. She had about fifty or sixty miles left before she would reach Sam's house. She hoped Cousin Judy and Cousin Ron didn't mind that she was coming. She hadn't actually told anyone she was visiting thinking it would be fun to surprise her favorite cousins.

Noticing her waitress coming back with her food Jade carefully folded the map and stuffed it back into her back pocket. The girl gave her the meal and huffed away. Jade blinked; alrighty then. She never noticed a pair of boys down the counter who had asked the waitress who "red-head with the pretty blue eyes" was. Without a care she tucked into her meal unknowing of the slight drama she had caused.

Feeling better after her rest Jade got back into her truck and drove off. If she was lucky she could get to Sam's place before eleven. It wasn't until she was a few back roads away from the diner that she noticed a black SUV was following her. It was keeping a good distance from her, but on the little used back roads she was traveling it was obvious that they were following her. Checking her cell phone she cursed under her breath. Cheap brand of phone meant spotty service as her cell told her she had no service. Seeing a turnoff up ahead Jade took it as if she meant to and switched off the headlights before the SUV could take the corner. She took another turn and prayed that her pursuers didn't follow.

Taking one more turn she cursed loudly at the dead-end. She glanced in her rearview mirror. She didn't want to leave her truck, it was her baby, but she really didn't want whoever was following her to get her. Decision made the frightened eighteen year old grabbed her phone, wallet, and the keys to the truck before bolting into the surrounding trees. Finding a nice big one to hide behind she crouched down and tried her phone again. Still no service. If she lived through this she was getting a better phone no matter the costs.

There were no headlights, from what she could see with her eyes now adjusted to the darkness. She had run into the woods far enough so she could just barely see her truck and then picked her way a carefully to a less obvious spot hoping that she didn't leave a noticeable trail. Then she heard the sound of gravel being crunched by slow moving wheels just barely over the noises of the night. Still no headlights so that meant they had thought the same as her. She heard a door open and waited.

"Girl's gone! Took her phone, wallet, and keys though and the engine is still hot! She can't have gotten far!" a voice shouted to the SUV.

"If so then shut up and find her!" another voice called back.

Fear jolted through her making it hard not to start running blindly. That would make too much noise. With a prayer the red-head slowly moved farther away from the road and her truck. She needed to find a house with a phone so she could call the police. Then she could ask for an escort back to her truck in the morning. Mind made up she focused on shifting through the dark woods.

Out of nowhere a cloth with a strange smell shot towards her with a hand attached to it and covered her mouth and nose. Holding her breath Jade swung out with an elbow and nailed someone in the ribs. With a grunt their already weak hold weakened further and Jade ran. She didn't care about noise now, she needed to run. A hard body tackled her from behind forcing her to the ground and knocking the air out of her. The cloth returned to cover her face right before she tried to gasp for clean air. The smell rushed into her lungs and she fell limp, her world going black.

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From that moment onward Jade had been thrown from one test to another by a group of scientists. She had no concept of time and no clue where she could be. There was so much pain and drugs flowing through her veins that it was a miracle that she woke even for the short intervals that she did.

When she woke this time there was a heavy sort of excitement in the air making her grow nervous. Last time that feeling came she had been forced through a marathon of painful testing while some sort of drug kept her awake through it all. Something was restraining her to a hard surface and there were wires connected all over her body.

"Throw the switch."

Blinding pain burned into her already weakened body. This made the previous tests seem like a walk in the park. If her vocal cords weren't already torn to shreds she would have screamed bloody murder. As it was the only thing her body could do was spasm in a way that was eerily similar to an epileptic attack.

Then she fell back into sweet relieving darkness as her body and mind shut down.

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When she next awoke it was to a strange feeling of not being in her body. What had those monsters done to her? Voices reached her throbbing brain forcing her to concentrate on her surroundings without opening her eyes knowing that light would only hurt her more.

"I can't believe we succeeded."

"Well believe it. I'm just surprised that we managed it with only a piece or the original energy source."

"Do you think she'll go crazy like the ones created from just machines?"

"Not likely, it was made with machine and human. It should be much tamer."

"You mean she."

"No, I mean it."

"I have to agree with Archer on this one. We used a female human; her mind is in there somewhere."

"On top of that, clearly the body is a more female body type compared to the likes of the others we've seen."

"I don't care, it's a robot and thus an 'it'."

As the voices continued to bicker about their morals Jade's thoughts swirled in chaos. What worked? What did they mean by human and machine? What did they mean by robot and her mind being in one?

What the hell happened to her?


	2. Chapter 2

**__****Author's Note:**** Please let me know of any mistakes or questions, I'd be happy to make corrections or give answers.**

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**__****Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you

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_Chapter 2_

Those insane excuses for human beings turned her into a robot! Not just any type of robot, oh no, it had to be a giant robot that used to be her precious truck! How was that even possible? Sure the psychopathic "scientists" had explained it to her when she had woken up without pain or being drugged for the first time since her kidnapping, but it just didn't seem real!

Upon waking Jade had been informed that she had been the first success of a government project known as Project M, short for "machine" or "mechanical" or something else equally obvious and related to robots. The tests had been to determine how well the change would hold. When she had passed out during what she thought was another test, it had actually been the scientists transferring her consciousness into her truck, which they had also taken during her kidnapping, all while using some sort of alien energy. When the procedure was complete her 1980 Ford F-250 started shifting and grinding till it resembled the shape the poor girl found herself in now. A deeper explanation of the process was given to her, but it left her more confused and frightened than before.

Now Jade sat in her cell with walls so think she would never break out of it with brute force, or so she was told. The walls were reflected, probably one way windows so she could be observed. That was how she discovered what she now looked like. The cell was incredibly high so Jade couldn't figure out how tall she was. Her body, or would it be frame, was like it was as a human in her mind. She was big at the chest and hips and slightly smaller at the waist, but she was still "thick" looking all together making her look more masculine. Her eyes remained their bright shade of blue even though they stared out from a metal face framed by red metal in a helmet-like shape. As for what happened to her car well, it seemed to be a part of her now. The hood and part of the front frame wrapped around her shoulders and molded to her upper back, chest, and arms in almost a parody of armor, the majority of the front end resting on her back. The bed of the truck ended up splitting apart and wrapping around her legs and hips. Both doors rested on her hips and the wheels could be found in pairs, two on her shoulders and the others resting just above her ankles. All in all her body was big, blocky, and still the same red as her truck had been except for the grey where the "armor" didn't cover.

Even though she had been given a week to adjust before the tests started again, this being day five, there was no way she could fully come to rejoice in this scientific advance. She was a robot now. She couldn't go to college anymore, would never see her friends and family, she would never do all the things she wanted to do as a human. She was a monster.

Raised voices and footsteps called the brooding girl's attention from her thoughts. What could possibly be going on now? Two of the scientists, while still considered crazy by her, seemed to have made it their mission to help her adjust. Sure, now they felt bad about turning a high school graduate girl into a robot. Such warped morals they had.

As predicted the door to the catwalks that were level to where her neck was if she were standing opened and the two scientists walked in. First was Archer, a white man in his mid-thirties with blonde hair and blue eyes. Then was Kleane, a shockingly intelligent young woman with what Jade believed to be Hispanic ancestry somewhere in there. Both wore lab coats and both where only addressed by their last names.

"What they want to do is just disgusting! It's one thing to experiment on adults, but children? I won't do it!" Kleane snarled as she walked in behind Archer.

"I agree with you on that. They say that they're just robots, but we've seen how they act. They're so much like my baby girl that I feel sick just thinking about their plan." Archer shuddered at what must have been an unpleasant image in his mind.

"What about children?" Jade asked suddenly alert. She would not let them repeat what they did to her to children.

"Those beasts used the energy to make smaller robots. They act like children for crying out loud; they have a child's mindset. Those monsters want to experiment on children!" Kleane was close to screeching at this point.

Whatever fluid flowed through Jade's robotic veins froze. Children, even if they weren't human to begin with, were in danger. Something within her mind clicked and surged forward until it slammed into the barrier within her mind. Apparently the scientists had blocked the negative effects of the alien energy by putting some sort of block to separate her mind from the instincts and programs the energy gave her. That barrier crumbed under the might of whatever programming was activated.

Jade shot to her feet and glared down at the two suddenly nervous scientists.

"We start planning now," she all but growled.

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How in the hell that crappy plan worked Jade would never know!

Archer had created a distraction of some kind that drew everyone's attention far away from her and the children. Kleane then released the children from their cages and led them back to Jade's cell. Jade then hid the four small robots that only came to Kleane's hip in a compartment that rested just above the container that held the glowing blue ball that was her new heart. Then Kleane used what little time was left of the distraction to lead Jade out of the facility. Once outside Jade transformed into her truck and sped down the road like a bat out of hell, the children somehow ending up in the cab.

That plan was so stupid and liable to failure that somehow it worked. Kleane and Archer would stay behind and try to delay any search groups that would look for them. Kleane had also given Jade the source of the alien energy, a small sliver of some kind of metal, which now resided in the glove box. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more experiments with it missing.

The immediate outside of the facility was miles of flat barren waste land obviously meant to deter escape. Past that and a few hours of driving Jade entered a city. She found a way to create a hologram of her human body to look like she was driving and made another so that the shockingly quiet children would be mistaken as a large backpack for hiking. She kept driving and driving until she found herself going across another desert-like landscape.

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It had been hours since they had left the city and Jade slowed down as she came to a gate. She had taken a well hidden turnoff thinking she would find a rock formation of some kind to hide in. An abandoned military base was certainly not a rock formation. Another program kicked on while the one from before continued to run. It must have been some sort of scan as a minute later she knew there wasn't a soul on the entire base.

Transforming back into a large robot Jade stepped over the gate gently. Luckily the ground was packed down so she wouldn't have to worry about her large foot prints being found. Her blue eyes trailed over the multitude of broken down buildings and large open spaces. Locating the largest intact building, an airplane hanger, Jade made a beeline for it and sighed at the shaded relief from the sun once inside.

Sitting down she opened the compartment where the children where and gently pulled them out. As if sensing they were safe and four toddled about the hanger with all the curiosity of a human child. All four had what looked like wings on their backs which Jade thought meant they could fly. For now the little robots only occasionally hovered a few inches off the ground chirping excitedly when they made it past three seconds. There was a large one, it looked male, stood taller and bulkier than the other four. He seemed to be making sure the group stayed together and safe. Next was another male, this one only slightly shorter than the "leader" of the group. This one seemed to want to poke at everything just to see what happened. Next were two little females that looked to be twins. They held hands as they walked around even if one seemed more inclined to stay near their savior than the other.

With a sigh Jade slouched against the surprisingly still stable wall. The program that had taken hold of her retreated, but she felt like it would be back soon. There were too many questions. What if they were caught again? Could she really keep all of them hidden? What about food? She had been getting what looked like warnings in a language she didn't know in the corner of her eyes, but the empty feeling where her stomach should be told her that she was hungry. Would oil work for now? Would that be safe for the children? How would she get some?

Irritated Jade slide to her side not caring about her paint since it was already ruined by the scientists. Maybe once she figured the most important things out she would look into redoing it and painting the children so she could tell them apart and name them. As she drifted off to sleep the tired adult sized robot didn't notice that the children had returned to her, curling up in her arms.

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_**Author's Note:**** I wanted to let everyone know that I appreciate the support you've given me. Couple of things to let you know about; first is that the update schedule for this story is on my account page so you'll know when the next part will come out. Second is that if anyone wants a more in-depth look at the escape they should review or message me. Depending on the amount of interest I may write it and post it as a separate story. Until next time!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: **__Before this chapter begins I wanted to point out a few things that some people mentioned. A lot of people are wondering when Jade will meet the Autobots and I'm saying this right now, she eventually will meet them and probably drive them up the wall. However, that won't happen until after the battle of the first movie (2007). Right before the battle Jade will encounter some Decepticons though so there will be some interaction with a born Cybertronian at some point._

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_**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you._

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_Chapter 3_

Slowly the world around Jade came back to life. The sound of howling had woken her up in the middle of the night. Coyotes most likely; not close enough to need to worry about though. Stupid robot hearing made everything seem so loud. While the cell may have been too strong for her to break it certainly didn't bloke out the sound of voices.

Something was trembling in her arms; actually it was more than one thing. Blinking nonexistent sleep from her eyes the young woman looked down at her curled arms. Nestled between her arms were the children she had rescued hours before. One of the females was clutching at the metal on Jade's chest trembling and whining. The other one was clinging to her twin seeming to be clicking a mile a minute. The two males huddled themselves close to the females, the smaller one whining while the larger one only trembled.

Humming softly Jade rolled onto her back with a bit of maneuvering. Instinctively she placed each child to where they rested on top of her chest. Luckily they were all really small compared to her so there was enough room for all of them. Her humming was soon accompanied by the purring of the truck motor. Instantly the little ones quieted down, though they huddled as close to her body as they could. Sighing Jade resigned herself to staying awake to calm them down. Curiously she poked at different things within her mind wanting to know what else she could do. It was best to learn as much about herself as possible so that protecting herself and the children wouldn't as difficult.

Suddenly she found her vision engulfed by a webpage welcoming her to the Dogpile search page. Wait, how did she do that? Backtracking she managed to figure out how to get back onto the internet. Well now she could find someplace that had oil barrels to see if it would make the pain in her "stomach" go away. She was part car now, so it should work for her. She was leery about letting the children have the same though. They looked like they could fly so did that mean they needed something like jet fuel? She would have to give them some of what she found and see how they reacted.

Poking around on the internet for a place with oil really didn't take that long. Now how did she get some? Yet again she surprised herself by somehow hacking into the business' database and finding the paperwork for a shipment that would be going to a construction site nearby early in the morning, like before the sun rose. Now that she could work with. Using her new found hacking skills Jade changed the number of barrels and noted the location of the delivery sight, not too far from the city. Now she just needed to get there.

The shifting and soft whirling sound on her chest made her pause. Looking down at the children the young woman was greeted with four pairs of questioning eyes, two red and two blue.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

The unofficial leader of the group started chirping at her. She didn't know what he was saying though. Back to her first thought on that though; it could be that between the little group he had been named leader and since Jade couldn't understand them she didn't know that.

Jade wrapped her arms around the four before she carefully sat up. "Are you all hungry?" Little chirps and whines responded to her question which she assumed meant yes. She couldn't leave them here, not if they were being chased. Bringing them with her was also risky since she could be discovered and attacked. The bright eyes staring up at her forced her decision. Opening the chamber above her "heart" she smiled down at them. "Alright, get in. We're going to find something to fill those little bellies, okay?"

One by one the children climbed into the area and settled down before the door, or cover, to it closed. Standing up Jade started toward the gate. She had about an hour drive before she reached the delivery site. That gave her an hour to figure out how to create a solid hologram to sneak the barrels onto the truck bed.

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It wasn't until they were all back at the rundown base safe and sound with at least eight barrels of oil that Jade's conscious kicked in. She had just stolen something and probably taken more than she needed. As fast as the thought came the barely active program from her escape rebutted the thought. That oil was needed to keep both her and the children alive, it was necessary for survival.

Feeling better about the crime she had just committed Jade stopped panicking as she stopped in front of the gate. Sinking down on her back axis and pushing up with her front axis she dropped the tail gate and lat the barrels roll out of the bed. She did not want to try changing forms with those in the way. Swiftly she transformed into a robot and picked up the barrels then stepped over the fence.

Back in the hanger Jade gently placed the barrels on the floor and let the children out of the compartment. Time to experiment. With four eyes watching her with rapt attention and girl took one barrel and popped the entire top off. She had meant to only take the small cap off but this worked too. It looked disgusting to say the least. Bringing the barrel to her metal lips she took a cautious sip and then another. It didn't really taste that bad, even though she wasn't sure how a robot could have taste buds. The painful feeling in her stomach quieted, but the warnings in the corners of her eyes still flashed. So Jade drank the last of the open barrel and then drank another full barrel before the warnings went away.

Setting the empty barrels off to one side she sat down. Taking another barrel in hand she carefully managed to take only the small cap off this time. Looking at the children she asked, "Who wants to try it first?"

The larger male stepped forward. With a smile Jade picked him up, cradling him in one arm before bringing the open barrel to his lips. He drank a little, but then decided he liked it as he began take larger gulps. When he finally finished about a fourth of the barrel was gone. Placing him in her lap as he gave a cute little yawn she picked up the bold female who had all but bounced over to her leg. It went the same way with the other two as well, each drinking a fourth of the barrel before being placed in her lap for a nap.

A smile graced her lips as she watched the little ones nap after putting the empty barrel with the others. Her heart gave a little throb at the thought of what could have happened to them if they hadn't been rescued. They had no one but her to take care of them and she'd be damned if anyone hurt them.

Slipping into the land of dreams Jade didn't notice that the protective program that had been switching on and off since she woke up was now completely shut down as if it was waiting for when it was needed again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

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_Chapter 4_

Small childish giggles pierced through the heavy fog called sleep that Jade had been under. With a great big yawn she opened her eyes and blinked over at the children without getting up. What she saw made it hard to choose between laughing at the scene or sighing in weary annoyance.

The children had found the empty barrels from the morning and apparently thought they would be fun toys. All three empty containers were turned upside down so that the little devils could jump from one to the other, in the case of the bold female and the small male, or run in between them like the large male and the shy female. Each jump or hop was accompanied by the sounds of small thrusters roaring to life to prolong air time. It was honestly cute to watch, especially the two running around the barrels trying to sneak up on the other and catch them by surprise. Their little squeals of surprise or joy melted any irritation Jade had toward being woken up.

Unfortunately the young woman needed to get up now. The rest of the base needed to be explored and child-proofed. Nothing good came from keeping children locked inside all the time, even if they had to be extremely careful to remain undetected. With great effort Jade stood then stretched hearing little pops and creaks as her sore muscles worked to loosen the stiffness that had settled due to sleeping sitting up. Her blue eyes closed in bliss at a loud pop that eased the tension in her neck.

Excited little chirps caused her to open her eyes again. The two that had been jumping on the barrels were waving both their little arms at her calling her attention. The large male held the barrel that the bold female was hopping on so that she wouldn't fall off and hurt herself. The shy female stayed by the only unoccupied barrel hidden partially behind it. Each and every one of them wore smiles on their faces and watched her with expectant eyes. Jade couldn't help but give them a soft smile.

"I need all of you to stay here for a bit. I'm going to look around outside for about an hour, no more than that, okay? Then I'll be right back," she spoke softly to them. Getting a nod from each of them Jade turned and left the hanger.

Outside she walked to gate then set a brisk pace to walk, actually she ran, the inside of the fenced perimeter. When she finished her legs felt nice and stretched out and she knew that the fence was completely intact. Checking the timer she had set the protector of the children walked around the buildings. There wasn't actually a lot of damage like she had originally thought. Some had broken windows and doors, several had holes in the roof, but overall the damage wasn't too extensive. Still since this was a base for _humans_ she couldn't go inside and clean anything up to make sure the children didn't get hurt since they _could_ get in.

The timer went off with a sharp bing as she turned to head back to the hanger. She really hoped they would listen to her and stay out of the other buildings. There wasn't much here to begin with, but that also meant if one of them got hurt she wouldn't be able to help them.

Opening the door wider and taking a step in she failed to see one of the barrels turned on its side with a slab of metal on top. Having one's foot slide out from underneath them and then sliding about half way into the hanger was not fun. Neither was hitting one's head against the floor on the fall. A pained groan came from Jade's lips as she sat up. Feeling the back of her head she winced at the sizable dent her fingers met. That better not cause problems later. Giggles and chirps of glee drew the injured girl's attention to the bold female who was laughing as if her fall was the funniest thing in the word. Great a prankster, just what she needed. That one would give her issues since all the pranksters she had known hadn't liked to follow any rules set on them.

A concerned sounding warble at her side made the dismayed girl look down. Standing next to her hip was the other female looking back at her with worry. Scooping the little one up in her hand Jade ran a soothing finger over the child's head and back. "Don't worry, I'll be fine," she reassured the slowly relaxing child. This one seemed like she would follow rules, but would cling to Jade's side.

A shrill static like sound reach her not so human ears, or whatever she had now. Snapping her head toward the oil cans a gasp escaped her lips. The larger male was pulling the smaller one off of one of the unopened oil barrels. It sounded like he was angrily lecturing the one he held onto. He would most likely follow any rule she gave and try to keep the others in line. The smaller male, however, was looking at the cap he had taken off the barrel and looking at it in fascination, completely ignoring what the other was saying. The saying curiosity killed the cat popped into Jade's mind instantly letting her know that he would be a problem just for being inquisitive.

Then a thought hit Jade full force. The children didn't have names. The scientists at Project M most likely called them by numbers so that would never do. She had to name then, at least so she could have them respond to something. It wasn't right for a child to not have a name.

With that in mind she called the last three over and picked them up in her hands, two to a hand.

"I've decided that you all need names." Excited chirps and squeals interrupted her, but she plowed on over them, "I'll think of something and you can tell me whether or not you like it."

Looking at each one Jade thought hard as to what to call them. A human name would never do as they weren't human and it wouldn't fit them. Maybe she should combine different words together to make their names. That could work, she could use words the described their personalities or something. After that it didn't really take long to come up with something for each child. Placing each child on the floor she lined them up.

"You will be Skymaze, Maze for short," she said pointing to the large male who nodded and puffed out his chest acting all proud.

""You'll be Labtech, nickname Tech." She pointed to the smaller male who tilted his head and nodded. If he could speak English she was sure he'd ask her the dreaded "Why?" question.

She pointed to the bouncing bold female that had pranked her. "You're Trapmaster, Trap for short." The female squealed in delight and bounced more.

Finally coming to the shy female Jade smiled encouragingly at her, receiving a small smile back. "And you're Healingblade and your nickname will be Healing." The female nodded and gave a happy little chirp.

Watching the joy on their little faces made Jade's heart soar. She was making her very own little family right here with these kids.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **I wanted to warn the readers that this is a slow chapter, no real action. Just more Jade and sparkling things. If you don't want to read that then you don't have to.

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**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

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**Key:** (liable to change in future)

Sparklings speaking-**bold words**

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_Chapter 5_

Standing up Jade cleaned up the remains on Trapmaster's prank. Considering the limited materials in the hanger, most too heavy for the child to move, it was a pretty good prank. Looking at the floor she winced at the large red skid mark. There went any possible chance of having a decent paint job when she turned into her F-250. Looking back at the expectant children the young woman sighed. They were more important than a stupid paint job anyway.

With a smile Jade opened one of the hanger doors wide open before turning to the kids.

"Alright, I'm going to give you some rules you have to follow if you want to go outside. No going into any building other than this one. Stay in my line of sight at all times. Stay inside the fence. You break these rules and you won't play outside. Am I clear?"

Skymaze and Healingblade automatically nodded with determined looks on their faces. Trapmaster looked ready to protest but stopped when Maze glared at her. She pouted and crossed her little arms over her chest as she nodded. Labtech nodded but then tilted his head to the side asking "Why?" without speaking again.

"I just want you all to be safe. I don't want any of you getting hurt," she explained before stepping outside. Turning around she smiled and put a hand on her hip. "You coming out or what?" she teased.

Immediately Trap and Tech came out running ready to ignore the rules and explore. Maze ran after them seeming to know what they were up to and trying to head them off. Healing stayed at the doorway just out of reach from the sunlight. Making sure the other three weren't going into the building they were poking at Jade made a "come here" gesture with a gentle flick of her red wrist. Slowly but surely the shy little female picked her way over to Jade had held up her trembling arms. The resolve the larger robot had made to not baby this child crumbled swiftly leaving her no choice but to pick the kid up. Immediately Healing huddle against her chest seeking extra comfort.

"Shh, it's alright. I'm not going to force you to enjoy this," she cooed at the small robot in her hands, humming softly so that the trembling would stop.

Looking up at the sky Jade estimated the time to be about one in the afternoon. They'd stay out for no more than an hour. This was one of the hottest times of the day and she didn't want to discover how much heat they all could take by one of them fainting from heatstroke. If robots can get heatstroke that is. Maybe it would be termed overheating instead; that did make more sense considering she was thinking about robots.

So the minutes ticked by. While Tech and Trap ran around from building to building with Maze hot on their heels, Jade was walking after them with Heeling in her hand. Being so much larger than them made it easy for her to not only keep a relaxed pace, but she could see them too as she was taller that the buildings, all of which were no more than two floors she estimated. Healingblade stayed firmly in Jade's hand refusing every attempt to get her to play with the other three. Sighing the young woman gave up. There was no use in trying to force her to play.

**"Carrier!"**

Jade's head whipped around wonder where the sound had come from. They couldn't have been discovered that quickly could they?

**"No Carrier, over here! Look what I've found!"**

Jade slowly turned her attention back to the children on the ground. There was Labtech proudly showing off his newest discovery, which happened to be a blow torch. Where in the hell did he find that thing?

"Labtech, Sweetie, please put that down." Was there any fuel in that thing? Was it still functional? Was it secure and safe from exploding?

**"Why?"** Tech's little head tilted to the side.

"Because it's a very dangerous tool that only adult humans use. It's too dangerous for children." She had to get him to either put it down or give it to her.

**"But I wanna know how it works!" **he whined making Jade's left eye twitch a bit. She really hated whining.

Squaring her shoulders she spoke in a firm voice, "Labtech you will put that back where you found it or I will put you in timeout."

**"That's not fair!"** Jade shot him a stern look that she used to give disobedient kids she babysat as a human. **"Fine."** Watching him go back into a building she knew which one she needed to bloke off. When he came back he was still pouting.

Sighing Jade picked him up and cuddled him. "I just don't want you getting hurt."

**"Yes Carrier,"** he muttered against her.

When Healingblade patted his shoulder Jade realized what she had ignored during her panic to get the blowtorch away from him. She understood what he was saying. Well, most of it anyway, she had no idea as to what a "carrier" was except that it must have meant her. Then another thought hit her. Where were the other two?

"Tech, where are Maze and Trap?" She looked down and the still pouting male.

Before he could respond the two missing children can out of the building where the blowtorch was found. Actually, it looked more like Maze was dragging Trap behind him looking decidedly grumpy and covered in dust. It seemed that Trap was fighting him every step of the way whining in that language that the children seemed to talk in. Maybe it was something they didn't know how to talk to her like Tech had and they needed to figure it out. Whatever, it wasn't something that important at the moment. However, Jade prayed that whatever Trap was whining about wasn't dangerous. Knowing Trap, even in the short time they had been together, though meant that it most likely was.

Moving Tech to the same hand as Healing, Jade scooped the two up and walked back to the hanger. The entire way there she listened to Skymaze lecture the small female about something, hopefully telling the pouting girl to listen to the only adult out of the group. Jade briefly tried to figure out was "carrier" meant, still hadn't come up for a definition for that word yet.

Placing the children down on the floor Jade then sat down herself. She waited for the bickering and whining to stop before she addressed them.

"We came back inside because most of you went inside the buildings when I told you not to. I don't care if you went in to stop Trap, Maze. You still went into the building, though I appreciate that you kept her from getting hurt. Since I can't seem to trust any of you and Healingblade seems to want to stay by my side, no one is allowed outside for the rest of the day. Am I understood?" She got crying and whining, but she stayed firm. "While under my care I will treat you as my own kids. Which means I'm the 'Momma' and you have to do as I say. I'm trying to keep you safe and healthy. I know you'll understand eventually." With that she stood and sat down again against the doorframe so she could prevent the little ones from going against their punishment. It took all of her willpower to ignore their cries and whining. This was how her Momma raised her and she would raise them the same way. She just hoped that they tired out soon, hearing them so upset tore at her heart.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

* * *

_Chapter 6_

Finally the whining and crying stopped. Taking a cautious peak over her shoulder Jade sighed in relief. The four had tired themselves out from their tantrums and were curled up together in a pile.

Quietly Jade stood from her spot and closed the door with equal care. She figured that with the last few hours of day light she could bloke off that building. Quickly she managed to find the building in question. Luckily for her there were large crates laying randomly around the base that she could use for blockades. She had barely gone five steps toward the first building when she heard the sound of a vehicle coming towards the base.

Quickly she hid herself behind the hanger leaving a scan on. It was one car, small, maybe a Honda, with two humans that just got out. Turning up her hearing Jade was just able to hear the two talking as the sound of car doors opening came to her ears. As it turns out the voices were very familiar.

"Are you sure she's here? We couldn't pick up a signal from her or the children."

"Yes I'm sure. This is the only human-made place big enough to hide all of them. If I'm right then we have to warn her."

"Warn me of what?" Jade demanded as she rounded the hanger heading toward the gate.

On the other side of the gate were Archer and Kleane looking worse for wear than the last time they had been seen. Kleane was holding onto her left arm which seemed to be hanging limp at her side. Her normally sleek black hair was tangled and frizzy getting into her bruised face. Archer seemed to be favoring his right leg and his face and clothes were covered in dirt and blood, not to mention the dark ugly bruises he had on any showing skin.

The two seemed to sigh in relief at the sight of her. Archer stepped closer to answer. "Project M is after you, they know Kleane and I helped you and are searching for us now that we've escaped. You need to clear out of here before they come."

"How did they find us so fast?" Jade asked already searching the internet for an alternative hideout.

"Common sense and technology. For some reason you don't show on any scans and when the children are with you they don't either. But this is the largest man-made area around to hide all of you comfortably. They'll check here first and spread out from there," Kleane explained.

Finding a temporary place through geographical maps Jade looked at the scientists. "What about you two? They'll be able to find you won't they?"

The dark skinned woman laughed bitterly while Archer smiled sadly at her. "We know we can't run forever, but at least we can keep them off your trail for a while."

Unwanted tears gathered in the red robot's eyes. They didn't plan to survive helping her from the beginning. Granted the two were unremorseful when it came to turning her into a robot, but they had still tried to make things easier for her.

"What, you're crying now?" Kleane teased.

"Don't be stupid," Jade grumbled. "One of the children got dirt in my eyes while we were playing." They didn't believe her, but she didn't care. Nodding and saying goodbye she watched as the two got back in their car and drove off, most likely going way over the speed limit. She would probably never see those two again.

A sudden sense of urgency overtook Jade causing her to run back to the hanger. Inside she tip toed around the still slumbering pile of children to the still full barrels. She drank the open one before checking her systems for a compartment to hold the last four in. Her search mentioned something like a subspace pocket thing. There were multiple ones all over her body, but in order to hold all the barrels she'd have to use the largest one which was on her back hidden under the truck hood. Making sure each barrel was firmly closed so they wouldn't leak she tucked the remaining four into the compartment.

Turning to the children she gently shook them all awake. Putting on a serious face she opened the compartment above her heart as she picked them up. Getting startled and questioning chips at her actions, Tech asking the dreaded "why" question yet again, the children one by one climbed into the compartment.

"The bad people I saved you from and coming, we need to leave." Was all she said before closing the compartment and leaving the hanger.

Turning toward the back of the base, Jade ran across the ridiculously large amount of space between the hanger and back fence. Suddenly her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of several cars driving up to the front gate. Normally not one for swearing, Jade let out a long stream of foul words loose within her mind as yelling and screaming followed her as she tried to hide behind one of the smaller buildings. The moment she knew they had seen her was obvious since they started firing guns at her. Out of the bullets that managed to reach her, some bounced harmlessly off her think metal hide while others pierced the protective metal, getting stuck inside the think material before reaching anything vital. She could fight them, but the gate being driven through by one of the cars changed her mind.

Before they could drive into her legs and trip her, or worse, she bolted the last few yards separating her from the fence. She ran over the fence, managing to keep it intact as she went over and sprinted off to the next best hiding place. Gun fire and angry yelling followed in her wake, but she didn't stop. There was no way any of them were going back to that place if she could help it.

* * *

Five hours. It had taken her five hours to get to this decent sized cave out in the middle of nowhere. At least three of those hours had been driving all over the place after she had transformed leaving behind multiple false trails for Project M to follow. The other two had been spent making sure she didn't leave a trail as she made her way to the cave.

Sighing in relief Jade transformed inside the cave, deep enough where no one could see her if they walked by. Immediately she opened the compartment for the children and carefully pulled them out one by one. They had fallen asleep while she was making the fake tracks. Carefully she placed them down before speedily unloading the oil.

Not wanting to let the children get cold Jade scooped them up again and sat against the cave wall with her knees up. She held the little ones close to her heart as she settled down for a sleepless night of playing look out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

* * *

_Chapter 7_

The night was long and tedious, but Jade stayed awake through it all. There was no way she would let her guard down after coming so close to recapture. Those monsters would have to fight her tooth and nail if they wanted to take any of them back. Never again would she let her guard down.

The sun rose in the sky, the bright light gracing the dirty cave floor letting the young woman know the night was over. Still she kept her vigil, staying ready in case she needed to run again. Several hours later, according to the clock "application" she had found, the children woke up hungry. So one by one they drank until another barrel was gone. Jade herself drank another barrel; her body had used what it had previously consumed due to all the activity the other afternoon.

Not even ten minutes after waking Trapmaster and Labtech became bored and fidgety. Sighing, Jade let all the children explore the cave with a strict rule to stay inside. The cave was large height wise, easily letting her stand up and not hit her head. It was also decently wide enough so that the only legal adult of the group didn't feel claustrophobic. It was like a grand exploration mission for the two rambunctious metal children, followed closely by Skymaze and Healingblade who were going slower than them.

Jade stood from her spot and stretched a bit. She needed to get the knots out of her muscles before anything happened. Staying tense and on guard throughout the night was not something she recommended. Satisfied with the last large pop her back gave the red robot glanced around looking for the children. Best to keep an eye on them until she was sure it was safe to return to the base. There was Maze sitting off to the side not far from her talking animatedly to Healing, maybe he was telling her a story or something. Searching the rest of the cave there wasn't a sign of Trap or Tech. Franticly she searched again. They couldn't have gone outside in the short time she had looked away from the cave opening could they? As a second sweep came up with no results that unlikely event turned frighteningly plausible.

"Maze, Healing, I want you both to stay here and not go anywhere. I'm going to find Trap and Tech." Receiving obedient nods she heading to the entrance of the cave.

For a moment the sun blinded her. Once she was able to see though, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Standing over the petrified forms of Trap and Tech was another robot. It looked male, judging from the lack of "breasts", and was at least a good five feet taller than Jade. He wasn't as dense as she was, looking light and flexible with strong wings that occasionally twitched. His red eyes stared widely at the children as if he had never seen one before. For a moment Jade considered the tall gray male. He wasn't harming anything at the moment, maybe he would be gentle.

Then he reached for the children.

The program that helped with the escapes from Project M flared within her mind taking over. Jade took hold of a corner of the door on her right hip. There was a click and where before there was a seamless door now there was a diamond shaped center piece with a sharp curved shape still attached. In her right hand was another curved piece of metal which she threw at the male, aiming for his arm. As if sensing the attack he pulled himself away from the children as the projectile just barely missed him. It arched back toward Jade and she caught the deadly spinning blade.

They stared at each other as Trap and Tech ran back into the cave.

"Stay away from my children," Jade growled, her engine rumbling giving her a more menacing sound.

The male scoffed, "They couldn't possibly be your sparklings, Femme. No seeker would willingly lay with a grounder." His sneer made it pretty obvious he had just insulted her.

"If all 'seekers' are as arrogant, showy, and all around unbecoming as you are then I'm glad that I didn't have to bed one, adoption is so much easier," Jade sneered back.

With a screech that nearly destroyed her eardrums the male launched himself at her. Barely thinking her actions through Jade dived to the side, twisting along the way to detach a boomerang from her left hip. Back on her feet in a matter of seconds Jade attacked, her slashing lunges extended due to her weapons. The male expertly dodged her attacks, or she was just really that bad at fighting, causing the red robot to silently fume. She watched as the arrogant shit flew into the air, roaring jet engines making her flinch due to how close the two of them had been. No, he wouldn't get away that easily. Changing her grip on the weapons Jade threw them as hard as she could at the annoying flier. She quickly dived out of the resulting gunfire aimed at her, drawing the other boomerangs at the same time. Watching him dodge her first attack she threw another at him, leading just enough so that she could hopefully at least nick a wing. No such luck as he dove then did a flip to avoid the fourth twirling blade before returning fire.

Running to avoid the bullets Jade caught the first two returning blades before immediately launching one at the male. The thankful distraction helped her put more distance between the two of them and pull the fight away from the cave a little. How was she going to beat him? She couldn't chase him in the sky and he seemed determined to kill her after her smart mouthed insult. Daddy always did say her mouth would get her into trouble. Catching another blade then throwing the other Jade snarled as she ducked around a large rock mass. She cringed as bullets, at least she thought they were bullets, battered the poor formation causing chips of stone to fly everywhere. This cover wouldn't last long if he kept that up.

A sudden distressed chirp reached her ears and Jade whipped her head in the direction it came from. Standing just barely inside the cave, which wasn't as far from the fight as Jade would have liked, were the children each looking equally scared out of their minds. Anger flared within the young woman. Her children were scared and she needed to protect them. Giving a roar of fury Jade whipped around the protective cover. She felt several clicks go off at once but she barely took notice as she threw her only blade on hand, the others spread out on the ground. The sound of rapid pulse like fire erupted near her ears; apparently she had some sort of pulse cannons on her shoulders. As she went to run, instead or running she ended up gliding like she was on stakes. Looking down she noticed the wheels on her ankles were lower than they had been. Swiftly she picked up her boomerangs from the ground while dodging and returning fire.

Finally something happened in her favor. The last boomerang she threw nicked the flying annoyance on the wing. He screeched in pain and indignation causing the children to scream in fright. He stopped his intended dive at Jade and stared in shock at the four little robots cowering at the cave opening. He changed course, heading for the children. Jade met him there.

They stared at each other, Jade snarling up at him and the male glaring down at her hovering just off the ground so he loomed over her.

"I said leave my children alone," she snarled.

"I don't have to listen to you, Femme. I should take them with me and raise them as seekers should be," he snapped back.

The cannons on her shoulders whirled as they readied to fire on the male. "Touch any of them and I will personally rip you to shreds." Her voice lowered to a deadly quality.

The male stared at her before smirking. "Tough little femme aren't you?" He went to hold her chin in his clawed hand but she slapped it away and held two pointed boomerang blades at his cabled neck. He had the nerve to chuckle. "I am Starscream, who did you steal the sparklings from Femme?"

Jade wondered if she would get bad karma if she killed the pest in front of her without getting answers and information out of him first.


	8. Chapter 8

**__****Author's** Note: I wanted to inform my readers of a fact that was already addressed by Fanfiction has already addressed on the news feed. The characters that I have listed, "Starscream and OC", are not necessarily going to end up in a relationship! The characters listing is not for pairings. The characters are just characters that play a major portion in the story. I've had people asking me for crack pairings and relationships between characters to be put in this story. I want this to be clear that I am posting this story to my standards and those that want things done their way will be very disappointed. I am willing to take requests, but anything I write is going to be done to my standards and no one else's. Thank you.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

* * *

**_Chapter 8_**

_Astrosecond (defined by G1) =.273 seconds_

_Nanoklick (defined by Beast Wars) = 1 second_

_Klick (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) =1.2 minutes_

_Breem (defined by Marvel comics) =8.3 minutes_

_Groon (defined in 1990 in "The Magnificent Six!")= 1 hour_

_Cycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) =1.25 hours_

_Orbital Cycle (defined by Animated) = 1 day_

_Megacycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) = 93 hours= 3.875 days_

_Orn = 13 days_

_Decacycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) = 3 weeks_

_Stellar Cycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) = 7.5 months_

_Solar Cycle (defined by Animated) = 1 year_

_Vorn (defined by Marvel comics) = 83 years_

_Joor (defined in 1990 in "The Magnificent Six!") =telling time ex: 0700 joors (hours)_

_All times found from here: wiki/Units_of_time_

"Call me 'femme' one more time and I'll blow your head off your shoulders. I told you I adopted them, or is you hearing as bad as your aim," Jade snarled. Oh, how she wanted to swear at him. She could think of so many things to call the male, but children shouldn't learn such language. Not until they are older at least.

Starscream gritted his denta. Such a stupid femme, did she really have no processing power in that helm of hers? What he had said was true. With the way the war was going seekers couldn't trust grounders to not stab them in the back during the delicate process of sparking a partner. Grounders also wouldn't dare take in a seekerling, let alone four, if there was a seeker alive that would take it in; every Bot and Con knew that. Seekers were incredibly protective of their own kind.

Clenching his servos the grown seeker took a moment to calm down. It wouldn't do to have the sparklings witness him murder the femme in front of them. He conveniently disregarded the fact that he had been attacking her not an astrosecond ago. Shuttering his optics Starscream finally took stock of the group before him.

The sparklings were in decent condition, a bit dusty and in need of a wash, but overall looked to be physically healthy. The femme on the other servo looked beaten to the pit and back. Her red paint was chipped and scratched off, the thick armor was filled with dents and scuff marks, and her helm was severely dented in the back. Yet she stood before him covered in grime and significantly shorter with flying blades and shoulder energy cannons pointed at him ready to defend the sparklings she considered hers from him. What bothered the flier more than her appearance was that despite her fiery blue eyes she had no faction symbol on her, not even something to identify her as a neutral. On top of that, her signal was incredibly soft, reminiscent of an offlining Cybertronian yet she was obviously still functioning.

Time to get answers.

"You do not want to be called 'femme,' fine, what is your designation then, Grounder?" he sneered. Just because he wanted answers didn't mean he had to be nice about it.

She snarled at him, obviously sensing his insult toward her. She was so easy to rile it was almost more fun than plotting Megatron's demise.

"How about you start saying words that I actually know the meaning of and maybe we can have a conversation without either of us trying to kill the other. And trust me; it's really hard to _not_ kill you right where you stand."

Feisty little thing wasn't she? If she had been a seeker and the war wasn't looming over them Starscream would have courted her in a sparkbeat.

"What words does your tiny processor not comprehend, Grounder?"

"Oh, I don't know maybe 'gounder,' 'femme,' 'seeker,' 'sparkling,' and that last one you just said that sounded like it had something to do with a computer," she snarked and even had the audacity to roll her optics.

"How could you not know basic Cybertronian vocabulary?" The Decepticon Second in Command frowned. Maybe that helm dent _did_ do processor damage.

"What in the name of all things holy is a Cybertronian? All I know is what my Momma and Daddy taught me and the fact that a-" She paused and glanced at the sparklings; "Atrocious humans turned me into a robot and made the children somehow." She vented heavily and her cannons powered down, but she kept the blades out. Smart femme indeed. Wait, what happened to her?

"Explain yourself now," Starscream hissed.

Jade bristled at the command and was tempted to bring her cannons back on. The pain in her limbs, stomach, and head told her to do otherwise. Stupid cannons must have used up all of the oil she drank earlier. Giving a sigh of frustration Jade put one of the blades away and scooped the children into her now free hand. With a jerk of the other hand she walked back into the cave keeping an eye on Starscream the whole time. She felt a bit of joy race through her as the male hit his head on the ceiling trying to walk in and had to slouch to avoid doing so again.

Wincing at the creaks and groans of her metallic body as she sat down, Jade placed the shaken children on her shoulders so they could be near her face. They whined and chirped at her, hugging her neck with their small arms and Healingblade trying her best to look for more injuries. She picked up one on of the three remaining oil barrels left and popped the top off. Watching the flier as he carefully sat down cross-legged like her, the red robot took a sip of her oil.

"Let's see now, you want my whole life story or just the part where I was turned into this." Jade gestured to herself making sure none of the children fell.

"Shorten it as much as you can," he snapped. What a prick.

"Alright then, I was born a human female to my parents on the east side of this country. I'm not really sure how long ago it was, but I was taken from my journey to visit relatives by some humans that worked for the government. They held me captive running tests on me before one day they turned me into what you see now. Four days after, I discovered those same humans somehow made the children. With the help of two humans I managed to escape with the children then I hid in the base not far from here. Yesterday the humans that didn't help us found us and I ran here. End of story."

Jade chugged the rest of her barrel and opened another, she would have to get more either today or tomorrow. She watched Starscream as he digested the information she had fired off at him. Granted she left out several details like who her family was, where she was from, and how exactly she had been turned into a large robot, but he really didn't need to know those things. The purple face symbol on his wings was interesting and so were his wings in general. She absently wondered if she could convince him to at least tell her how to train the children to fly before he left. He wasn't staying with them and he wasn't taking the little ones with him either.

Blazing red eyes rose from the ground where he had been staring at while thinking and focused on her own blue. "I highly doubt that fleshlings can do what you claim they can, but seeing as you and the sparklings are here I see no point in arguing with a femme that obviously has processor damage from that dent in the helm. You will come with me. You will be fixed and the sparklings placed in more capable servos."

Jade felt her left eye twitch, a habit that she got from her mother when things went too far. Instead of channeling her father's habits of yelling she smiled sweetly at him while with her eyes she was sure promised nothing but death if he continued. "You can take your demands and shove them extremely far up you backside and then take a nice long hike off a very short pier. The children stay with me and I'm staying here. The most you will do is tell me how to best teach them to fly based on my abilities before leaving and never bothering us again. Are we clear, Mr. Starscream?"

The shock and slight fear the male showed in his eyes as he reared back away from her was very satisfying after brute force and antagonism did nothing.

"Can I at least known your designation?"

"If you mean my name, it's Jade."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

* * *

**Key:**

Comlink = ::-::

**(Times)**

_Astrosecond (defined by G1) =.273 seconds_

_Nanoklick (defined by Beast Wars) = 1 second_

_Klick (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) =1.2 minutes_

_Breem (defined by Marvel comics) =8.3 minutes_

_Groon (defined in 1990 in "The Magnificent Six!")= 1 hour_

_Cycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) =1.25 hours_

_Orbital Cycle (defined by Animated) = 1 day_

_Megacycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) = 93 hours= 3.875 days_

_Orn = 13 days_

_Decacycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) = 3 weeks_

_Stellar Cycle (defined by IDW comics~ Simon Furman) = 7.5 months_

_Solar Cycle (defined by Animated) = 1 year_

_Vorn (defined by Marvel comics) = 83 years_

_Joor (defined in 1990 in "The Magnificent Six!") =telling time ex: 0700 joors (hours)_

_All times found from here: wiki/Units_of_time_

* * *

_Chapter 9_

The way the femme delivered the ultimatum made Starscream's energon freeze. His instincts told him that she was dangerous right now, even more so than Megatron on a bad day. Her entire demeanor forced programming within him, which had been deactivated at the beginning of the war, to start working again. Any self respecting mech worth his energon had this programming. "Don't anger femmes with sparklings" flashed across his memory files. Hoping to placate the cold fury the seeker asked for her designation.

Jade, she was designated Jade. It didn't sound Cybertronian in the least, but then again she seemed to only speak the fleashy language known as English. With the processor damage she obviously had it was possible that the fleshies completely destroyed her memory files and put fake ones in place of the originals. Yes that was more believable than the explanation she had given him. Back to her designation, quickly he researched it and found that "jade" was a prized gemstone, more highly valued in the Eastern hemisphere, that was normally green, but was found in other colors such as red.

Not wanting to press his luck with the protective femme Starscream grudgingly accepted her conditions. Standing up the adult seeker growled as his head hit the cave ceiling. Such a stupid place to hide from pathetic fleshies.

"I will show you outside. If you are able to do as I tell you then I will leave you be." With a slight snarl Starscream walked out of the cave, slouching even further at the entrance to exit unharmed.

He only had to wait a few klicks before the femme came out with the sparklings in her servos. She carefully ducked her helm as she exited the cave and watched him warily the entire time. Though it was she that had told him to teach her how to teach the sparklings to fly, she was still nervous toward him. A very wise decision on her part even if she had put her weapon away.

"If you were a flier this would be easier as you could fly with them. Fliers and seekers fly with the sparklings and take turns gently tossing them between each other normally with a spotter. As you lack the ability to fly you will need to gently toss each sparkling into the air so that they become accustom to being in the air. I suggest that you do a few tosses standing to simulate take off and a few laying down to simulate flying," Starscream explained unaware that he had started lecturing like he would when explaining an experiment he was working on.

With a nod Jade set the small mech and two femmes, femme seekers were extremely rare, on the ground a little bit away from her peds, but still giving her enough room to move. Taking a sturdy stance she cupped the larger mech sparkling in her servos before tossing him up in the air. He didn't go very high, no farther than her shoulders, but the sparkling squealed with joy none-the-less. It would take time for Jade to get used to tossing them at greater heights, but the sparklings would tell her what they wanted.

Starscream watched as the femme switched between sparklings. She would tire out soon from doing this exercise with all four. Even as she tired, her injuries must be worse than he thought, a smile graced her derma as her optics stayed sharply on the sparkling femme she was tossing a little higher than the others. Though he loathed to admit it, the femme did seem like a decent substitute carrier for the sparklings, for the time being. Once his wing brothers came to this mud ball of a planet he would find her again and take the sparklings. If Jade proved to be cooperative then he may convince his wing brothers to bring her along. Besides, the sparklings may be easier to handle with the familiar femme around.

Another bing on his com went off. He had been getting a few of those since he met the group before him. Deciding now was a good time to answer the seeker finally opened his com.

:: Starscream answer your Primus damned com!:: Megatron's snarling voice met him upon opening his com. Just great, just what he needed.

:: What can I do for you Lord Megatron?:: Starscream hoped the brute didn't hear the hatred in his response.

:: I am sending you my coordinates. Get your useless aft to me now or I'll turn you into scrap metal too useless for spare parts! I am awake and have found the Allspark!::

The line went dead before he could respond. Even fragging better! The stupid aft was supposed to stay asleep and trapped until the current troops on this planet could find the Allspark. There went all his careful plans of protecting himself and his trine. He was going to use finding the Allspark as a gift to appease the slagging overgrown sparkling. The Leader of the Decpticons had been getting increasingly more cruel to even his own troops before he disappeared. The peace and security among the ranks was now a thing of the past.

He turned to the femme only to find her and the sparklings watching him.

"Something you want to share with the rest of us? Your eyes dimmed there for a bit," Jade commented seeming nonchalant about her inquiry.

"I was speaking to my Lord Megatron." Starscream spat out the name as if it were a vulgar tasting batch of oil that he was forced to drink on this planet as there was no energon.

"Going to pretend I know how you were doing that and ask what he wanted." Really the femme didn't even know what a comlink was, though he shouldn't be surprised with her processor damage.

"He calls for my services. You will remain here until I am able to collect you. This place is not safe enough to raise sparklings in." He turned his back on her and readied to take flight.

"I'll stay unless I need to leave. I don't take orders from jerks like you," she snapped at him right before he took off. Really the femme needed to learn that what he said goes. She better be at that cave when he got done dealing with Megatron


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** Just wanted to warn all readers that this is another short chapter. Some of you may not like these short chapters, but I need them so that I have good starting points for the next chapter. Also, every chapter is a minimum of 1,000 words long. That is my standard and if you don't believe me you can check it for yourself.

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**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

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**Key:**

Labtech talking= **bold**

* * *

_Chapter 10_

Watching the winged robot transform into a military jet and take off Jade had to scoff at the male. How dare he tell her how to raise her babies. She may not have birthed them, but they were hers to raise, not his. The moment she listened to a damn thing he ordered her to do would be the day hell froze over and she started liking the color pink. If she needed to run from the cave then she damn well would. In fact she may just take the kids and leave right now just to spite the stupid jet.

Huffing in agitation Jade picked up the curious little robots and walked back into the cave. She was tired again after tossing the children into the air so much. Maybe she was hurt more than she thought she was. Sitting down Jade winced at the creaking and popping that her metal body made. With a groan the young woman tilted her head back against the cave wall.

The children, still active even after their "flying lesson", crawled out of her open palm and started to play close to her left leg. Skymaze took it upon himself to keep the smaller children quiet; or as quiet as four small robot children could be. Labtech deviated from the small group. He had already learned to speak to Jade and the others weren't asking him for help or advice so he decided to get some answers to his many questions.

Tapping on Jade's leg he waited until she looked at him before raising his little arms saying, **"Up, Carrier!"**

With a content smile the only painted robot, no matter how bad her paint job was destroyed, picked the small male up and cradled him to her chest.

"What are the others doing?" she asked curiously.

**"They are trying to learn how to speak to you so you understand what they say."** Tech happily curled into Jade's chest listening to the thrum of her electronic heart.

"Oh, why aren't you helping them?"

**"They did not ask,"** the small male huffed sounding remarkably like Jade when she did the action. **"I have questions, Carrier."**

"All right then, ask and I'll try to answer," Jade smiled as she closed her eyes, they had started to hurt.

**"Who was the large mech?"**

Jade thought over the word before answering, "Starscream."

**"Is he our creator?"**

Wait, if carrier was a term for mother then creator must mean- "No, no, no! He's not your dad!" Jade did _not_ like the idea of sharing parenthood with Starscream. That and the image of the two of them together in her head did not look like child raising material.

**"Why?"** Damn that question.

"The place I took you and the others from, that is where you were born. I don't know when or how, but I do know that all of you are my children even if I didn't create you." Jade pleaded in her mind for him to leave the topic and go to another.

Tech opened his little mouth to ask another question when Jade suddenly shushed him. There was a noise in the distance that caught her attention. After a few seconds Jade quickly scooped up the other three children and shoved them all into their special carrying compartment. The noise sounded like multiple vehicles that were getting closer by the second. Glancing at the last barrel Jade shook her head and transformed. There wasn't time to put it in a pocket.

Easing out of the cave Jade growled in annoyance. Those were definitely Project M vans. Not wanting to take her chances by waiting longer she pulled out of the cave and floored it. It didn't matter where she went just as long as she could lose her pursuers. Using the rearview mirror she could see a couple of vans pull up next to the cave and stop while the rest pursued her at increasing speeds. A string of curses rang in her mind as she pushed for more speed. She was pretty sure that her truck wasn't supposed to be going this fast. If she wasn't the truck herself then it would be going much slower or she would have used all of her gas by now. As much as her F-250 was her baby, it did horrible on gas mileage.

Finding a paved road Jade tore off toward the city. She would either lose them there or they would catch her in the maze of streets and buildings, but the city looked like her best chance of losing Project M. They must have known what she was thinking since suddenly her tailgate was peppered with bullets. The small shockwaves of pain forced her to push harder while the children screamed. There was no time to comfort them though. The tops of city buildings came into view and grew larger in front while the gun fire increased from behind.

Swerving harshly away from the bullets attacking what was essentially her rear end in this form Jade maneuvered her way around the crashed cars all along the road. Barely giving the destruction around her a thought she drifted around a large pile up that crossed into her lane. The city was growing ever larger, she was so close.

A loud pop followed by a rush of air was the young woman's only warning before her driver side rear wheel deflated causing the left over rubber and rim to crash onto the blacktop. Sparks flew from the sections of metal as the rubble was quickly flung from its place. Searing pain rippled along her body forcing her to transform into her humanoid form. She tripped and fell onto her front, the breath getting knocked out of her even as she tried to avoid landing on the cars around her. Looking up Jade vaguely noticed a sign off to the side before standing. With a slight limp she ran towards the closest building in long strides praying the children were safe in their compartment.

The sign said, "Welcome to Mission City."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

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_Chapter 11_

Take a left, then a right, then a left, then a right, pass through two intersections. Jade took a sharp right and ducked into a wide alley. Since she had entered the city she had lost track of where she was. All that mattered was making Project M give up the chase. Aside from that thought the woman idly thought about the city. It looked like a war was going on. Buildings were crunched and smashed and the streets looked like meteors had crashed into them. As dangerous as the possibility of a war was Jade also knew it was her best chance of losing Project M.

Watching the entrance to the alley with trepidation Jade nearly jumped out of her skin when a barely audible static like noise came from behind her. Turning so fast that she almost got whiplash, the truck stopped at a truly horrifying sight. Crumpled in the alley as another robot, possibly male, torn in two with a few small wires connecting the two pieces. A large purple puddle was underneath it and swiftly getting larger from being barricaded by two buildings. Extremely dim blue eyes slowly blinked at her from a sliver face that curved into a barely there smile that just about broke her heart.

Offlining was something that Jazz always knew he would have to face, it was inevitable in war. As he lay in a pool of his own energon suffering through the worst pain he had ever felt Jazz had to say he was disappointed. Yes he had helped divert attention from the human Sam and the cube for a little while until Optimus could arrive, but he was _not_ a fan of a slow offline from being ripped in half. He was positive that if Ratchet had known where he had landed the medic would have been here patching him up temporarily so he would make it through the battle. There were no regrets though, nothing the music loving mech would want to try and do over.

Giving a groan as a new wave of pain hit him; Jazz vaguely heard a soft, very feminine gasp to his left. Opening his optics the silver mech was treated to the sight that he was sure had to be an illusion brought on by his impending offline. Next to him, but still out of reach from his spilled energon, was a femme. An honest to Primus femme. How long had it been since he had last seen a femme that wasn't Acree, Elita-One, or Chromia? Those three were the only femmes he ever saw and even _that_ was a rarity. This femme wasn't as athletic looking as the other three, but she was still good looking in her own way. Her armor looked decently thick and wrapped around her whole frame so she could take a beating and then some. She looked like she had been through the pit too. Her red paint job was so destroyed that it would have brought Sunstreaker to tears. There were hundreds of human bullet holes littering her armor, the tire on her left ankle looked blown, and there looked to be a dent on the back of her helm, even if he couldn't get a good look at it. Her blue optics were filled with pain, fear, exhaustion, shock, and concern. Her optics said she wasn't a fighter, but she was forced to wage war.

With a smile he had to think to himself that Primus had given him one pretty sight before his offline.

Jade stared in horror at the slowly dying robot before her. Taking a step forward into the pool of purple liquid she reached out a hand. There had to be something she could do to help. If not to heal it then to at least make sure it didn't die alone. Careful not to fall into the liquid she squatted down and placed a gentle hand on the silver robot's shoulder. It gave her a slightly bigger smile; one she was sure would have been a big toothy grin if it wasn't so hurt.

Taking back her hand she pulled the lower half toward the upper. There were a lot of wires and cables that were frayed at the edges. So it was literally ripped apart? Things like that only happened in the middle ages or with gangs. So there was something big enough and strong enough to tare this robot apart? Jade swallowed uneasily at the thought. If this robot was ripped apart then that meant it could happen to her too, or worse to the children. Shaking her head to rid herself of the image of her children being ripped apart like a wet tissue Jade focused on the robot. There didn't seem to be anything she could do for him, as he was obviously male now that she was closer to him. She would be here with him though, stay until he passed onto the next life.

His slightly confused face met her sad smile, tears brimming in her eyes. He seemed like he would have been a nice robot, unlike Starscream whom she wanted to hit upside the head or worse with his superior attitude. Jade wished she could have known him before this happened. With a gentle smile the male closed his eyes. This didn't seem fair.

A faint flash of blue to the left just outside of her vision forced her attention away from the dying robot. On her left arm a faint blue light pulsated from around the seams of a panel. Curiously she flicked the panel open, squinting to see past the now bright light. Sitting in the middle of the small pocket was the chipped piece of metallic rock that Kleane had given her during her escape with the children. It pulsed the blue light to the beat of a strong and steady heart. Carefully picking up the shard as if it would explode any second Jade held the small piece between her thumb and index finger in front of her face. It was really pretty if one ignored the blinding factor.

Looking from the shard to the robot next to her Jade paused at a thought. If this little shard could create life, then it should be able to save a life too. Unsure of what to do Jade turned her attention to the robot. Nothing happened when she held the shard near the wounds, but when she held it over his chest a small amount of blue light came from the seams of the panels. Using the faint light the woman found some small latches and unlatched them. The panels on the robot's chest opened revealing a mass of wires, cables, and, in a metal mount, a blue orb that was weakly pulsing and fading fast. Unsure of the results Jade adjusted her grip on the shard and held it so that the tip gently brushed against the orb. In a flash of blinding light that forced her to close her eyes, the shard reacted to the orb. When she finally was able to open her eyes without pain she found the male's orb glowing brightly and the cables and wires soldered shut. Closing the chest panels and putting the shard back in her arm pocket, Jade stood. She knew he wasn't a hundred percent better, but at least now he wouldn't die since the purple liquid wasn't leaking out of him anymore.

She crossed to the other side of the alley and peaked around the corners. With not a soul in sight Jade looked back at the robot one last time before taking off in a limping jog down the street.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

* * *

_Chapter 12_

Jade had managed to make it another three blocks down the road with her limping gait before she was forced to stop. She hadn't seen another living being since the torn robot in the alley, but she could hear the increasingly annoying and loud sound of fighting mixed with metal on metal banging meaning there were more of those robots around and possibly some human combatants.

Resting against the side of a sturdy looking building Jade gave a pained groan. Her ankle felt like it would snap any second, her body was sore and littered with bullet holes, and her head was hurting so much that it seemed like it would explode. She needed a break before trying to move again. The lone robot on the street closed her eyes as the world seemed to spin around her. Why was she so dizzy? Why did she feel like she needed to throw up?

All of a sudden she heard a high pitched static-like chattering right before she felt something crash onto her chest. Whatever the projectile was it burst painfully once it made contact and a liquid covered her armor. A hiss of pain escaped her lips as the sticky substance dripped into some bullet holes, the small bubbles popping painfully inside the wounds. Forcing her eyes open and fighting back tears she spotted a small, compared to her, green robot with four arms chattering at her angrily. Each of its waving arms looking to be cannons that must have launched the projectile at her. Wearily Jade felt like she was dealing with a toddler during the Terrible Twos.

Whining in pain Jade sank down until she was sitting on the road. Apparently the little robot hadn't liked that and launched another bullet at her. This time she was hit in the shoulder, she absently noticed that the green robot was shooting soda cans at her. Its high pitched chatter was like a dozen woodpeckers in her head.

"Enough," she finally snapped at the little thing when it hit her again. "I have no idea why you are attacking me but I won't stand for it. I'm too tired to deal with you so leave me alone," her firm voice drifted the still street.

The robot stopped making noise and looked at her in what seemed to be shock. Then it did something that made Jade want to laugh. It turned around and started to walk away, but every few steps it would stop and look over its shoulder at her as if to beg her with its eyes to not make it leave. Really, she had seen this type of trick before and it never worked on her. Once the green robot had turned the corner of the building Jade started counting down from five. Right at zero the little robot came careening around to corner in a flat out run and latched itself onto her good ankle sobbing uncontrollably. Smiling despite herself the woman picked up the crying robot and held it close to her heart. It instantly started to calm down and snuggle closer to the steady thrum of her heart. Poor little thing acted no older than a toddler in a big city all alone. He, now that she could see him up close and tell that he was male, was just looking for attention and someone to protect him.

A slight movement to her right caught her attention, directing it away from the sniffling child in her hand. At the same corner that the green robot had come from was a large robot close to the same height as her. He, as he was clearly male, was black colored and rather bulky like she was, though it looked better on him than it did on her. He blinked big yellow eyes at her and she blinked back. A few small chirps close to the ground drew her eyes toward street level only to find five very small robots at the large one's feet. Three were skinny, almost skeletal, humanoid robots with a pretty platinum color while one was a grey colored spider-like robot and another, taller than the other four, was a very pretty white color and human shaped.

Blinking again Jade mused how she always seemed to find herself in strange situations. With a gentle smile she held out a hand to them.

"Come join the hug, I'm sure you guys are lonely too," she spoke softly. She was in no shape to fight the larger one if he proved to be difficult or if he thought she was a threat.

Surprisingly all six launched themselves toward her, the large male being gentler as he had to kneel down and cuddle into her as she wrapped her stretched out arm around his shoulders so that he could be close to the others. They seemed so scared and she didn't blame them. The noises were loud and scary and being alone just made it worse. The large one seemed to be shaking the most, probably because he was the largest and had been protecting the smaller children. Poor thing.

Suddenly Jade heard gunfire then gasped as new holes formed in her armor, specifically her left arm. Quickly she shoved the smaller children into the large robot's hands and stood in front of them. Was the large one an adult or was it a child in an adult's body? Anyway, there at the other corner of the block she was on were the Project M vans that she had _thought_ she had lost. Two humans pointed some sort of large gun at her and before she had time to move it fired a canister which exploded on her chest. A scream of unadulterated agony ripped its way from her throat as the metal on her chest literally melted off, dripping in large metallic red colored drops onto the street. Then she heard the terrified screams of her children. Looking down Jade found the cover for the carrying compartment had been melted away.

The protective programming kicked into overdrive at that point. Vaguely the young woman was aware that she had activated her shoulder cannons and fired at the humans after blocking the sight from all the children. Unsure of whether she had killed them or not, Jade grabbed the large child's, he had to be a child, hand and ran again. She needed to protect all of the children. If Project M got a hold of any of them then there was no telling how much pain they would suffer.

Turning a random corner Jade skidded to a stop, throwing the hand covering the compartment out to the side to stay up right when the large child ran into her. In front of her was another robot, but this was certainly an adult and definitely functional. It was male, taller than her by a good amount, and painted with what looked like a police car design. His red eyes took in the sight of all of them before he opened his mouth.

"What the pit?


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

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**Key:**

Sparklings talk/ Cybertronian= **bold**

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_Chapter 13_

Barricade stared at the group before him. He had seen the Allspark activate so he had been looking for any newly sparked human machines. He did not, however, except to be almost run over by damaged femme tugging a large mech and several smaller Cybertronians. There were even seeker sparklings in the femme's damaged sparkling chamber. Were all of them created by the Allspark just now? Was that what the explosion was? No, the femme was the most damaged so she couldn't have been newly sparked.

With a snarl the femme pointed her energy cannons at him, ready to defend the new life forms. Instantly the Decepticon raised his servos in surrender. He may not know the femme, but he wasn't stupid enough to push his luck.

"Easy, Femme. I'm not going to hurt anybot," he spoke slow and firm. Programs were running in his processor trying to find a way to calm her down.

She snarled at him again, but didn't shoot. Good, she wasn't completely out of her processor from all the damage she had sustained. Seriously, Barricade may not have been in a lot of the major battles of the war, trying to keep his team alive, but he had seen enough offline frames to know that the femme should be dead by now. What the frag had she been through to get that kind of damage?

"I won't hurt you or them." He took a cautious step forward, being careful not to step too far. She snarled at him again, her derma pulling back to show her denta at him and the glow of her cannons brightened. "I swear on my spark, Femme, that I won't hurt any of you. What's your designation?"

For a moment he thought she wouldn't believe him and just shoot him offline right then and there. She starred at him for what seemed like forever with bright blue optics that seemed to stare into his very spark. He wouldn't blame her if she did shoot him; he was known for gaining someone's trust and then crushing it for a good laugh as long as they weren't he teammates.

"Jade," she grunted out.

Venting softly in relief the Decepticon tried to smile in a nonthreatening way. "Good to meet you Jade, I'm Barricade."

Jade warily watched the large male robot. Barricade, how fitting considering his paint job looked like a police cruiser. Just because she knew his name didn't mean that she would trust him with the safety of the children or herself though. A very familiar purple face like symbol stared at her making her defenses rise. That meant that this robot knew Starscream, possibly worked closely with him.

The program in her mind started running possibilities of this robot being a threat. Was it best to run or stay? Was she still in danger of Project M finding her? Would she run into another robot if she ran? What were the chances of her coming in contact with the robot that tore apart the silver one in the alley?

There were too many variables and too many options.

"How'd you get so damaged?" Barricade questioned her, bringing her away from the spinning questions in her mind.

For a few seconds she debated telling him the answer. From what the woman had gathered from Starscream these robots didn't like humans. Neutral answers were best for now until she could judge this male. "Does it matter? All that matters is that the children are safe," she snapped.

He blinked at her with red eyes before he rudely pointed at the large child asking, "He's a sparkling?"

From dealing with Starscream Jade had worked out that the term sparkling meant a child. "Yes he is and it's rude to point," she bristled.

Instantly the adult male of the group dropped his finger as if it had been burned. Smart man…male…robot…whatever.

"Alright, sorry. What are you doing here with sparklings?" he questioned.

"Escaping. What about you?" she shot back.

"I'm following the orders of Lord Megatron." There was that name again. This Megatron must be the leader of these robots with the purple symbol. Vaguely Jade recalled a red symbol on the torn robot so that meant that meant there were two different "races" of robots and from the sounds of things they were fighting to the death about something. Had she gotten involved in some sort of civil war?

A slight twinge of pain from the damaged compartment broke through the fog of protective programming followed closely by a wave of dizziness. She felt herself stumble to the side and quickly passed the named children off to the largest one before something worse could happen. Worse did happen; there was a sharp snapping sound and pain radiated from her ankle. Thinking quickly Jade focused her movements so she ended up leaning on the building to her right, keeping her weight off of her left ankle. Not daring to move, Jade placed a calming hand on the large child's arm and hummed softly to calm the smaller ones who were chirping at her in distress.

**"Carrier, please be alright!"** Labtech wailed at her, little tears falling down his cheeks.

"I'll be fine, I'll be fine." Jade tried to ignore the pain washing over her. So much pain; it wasn't the worst pain she had been through so, but it was still horribly painful.

"Hey there, you're not going to offline on me are you?" A metal hand landed on her shoulder forcing her attention onto the robot connected to it.

"Fine, 'm fine. Just need t'rest," she murmured, her words slurring slightly. Turning so her back was against the supportive wall she slide down till she was sitting, ignoring the scraping sound of her metal body against the cinderblock wall.

Programming screamed loudly in Barricade's processor as the femme slowly shuttered her optics while starring at the ground. All of the sparklings where clicking and whirling in concern, one specifically was crying out in Cybertronian to her yet she seemed to not hear them. Panic raised its ugly head in his circuitry. The sparklings needed her and they were the future of his race.

Just then there was a loud crash. The Commander of the Race Track Patrol looked around the corner just in time to see the human squishy designated Samuel Witwicky push the Allspark into Megatron's spark. A blinding light filled his vision and he quickly ducked back into the alley. When he was finally able to see again he focused his attention on the sparklings and femme. The sparklings were focusing solely on Jade and the femme seemed to be fighting to stay out of stasis lock. He had only moments to decide what to do.

Venting harshly Barricade bent his tall frame down and picked the femme up in a way that the Internet called "Bridal Style".

**"Where are you going with Carrier? You can't take her!"** the sparkling who could speak screeched at him from the relative safety of the large sparkling's servos.

"All of you are coming too. I'm taking her to a medic," Barricade responded crisply.

He eased his way out of their hiding place, looking over his shoulder to make sure that the large sparkling was following. Cautiously the Decepticon made his way toward the gathering Autobots. The moment his presence was registered was pretty obvious. Ratchet was burning holes into his armor with his stare, demanding answers to his unspoken questions. Next to notice was unfortunately Ironhide who pointed both of his cannons at his and the large sparkling's heads.

"What do you want, Decepticon?" he snarled out, ignoring the scared chirping of the sparklings and Ratchet's outraged noises.

"Put those away before I tear them from your arms," Jade snarled as she pushed herself out of the Decepticon's arms to stand on her own peds, which must have been painful since her left ankle strut had broken.

"Make me femme," the warrior challenged.

Barricade held up his servos in surrender before pulling the sparklings away from the standoff. Ironhide was a dumbaft to piss off a femme with sparklings. He should get that coding fixed if he wanted to stay online; if he survived the femme's wrath that is.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's****Note:** I want to thank Cloud-Dancer103 for giving me the idea for this chapter!

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**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

* * *

**Key:**

Sparklings talk/ Cybertronian= bold

Com. =::-::

* * *

_Chapter 14_

There was pain, so much pain that all Jade wanted to do was curl up in a ball and let the blissful feeling of falling unconscious consume her. Not yet though, there was still danger. She didn't remember when Barricade picked her up or when he carried her toward what must have been the ending scene to the battle, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that the large black robot had pointed one of his cannon hands at the children. He was a danger and needed to be eliminated.

When the male refused to lower the cannons, having the audacity to focus one on her and the other on Barricade who was leading the children to safety, Jade snapped. Her world faded as she launched herself at the aggressive male while his head was turned away. Her vision turned black, she could hear nothing but frightening static after her first primal roar, and all sensation was lost so she had no clue if she was even moving. Her only thought was protecting the children.

To say Ratchet was surprised that Barricade had come near the group was an understatement. The medic's astonishment grew into awe as he noticed the damaged femme cradled gently in the Decpticon's arms and the large mech following behind. The large mech had no faction symbol, but Ratchet couldn't tell if he was a neutral or not. The femme however was more concerning. From where he was standing he could make out a dented helm, damaged ankle strut, and a melted off piece of armor that was supposed to go over the sparkling chamber.

He was about to charge forward and start working on the femme while drilling the Decepticon for answers, the mech would cooperate if he wanted to stay undamaged, when Ironhide noticed the group. Understandably, Ironhide would be jumpy after just finishing a battle and so his cannons automatically pointed at the heads of both oncoming mechs. Of course his actions brought the attention of Optimus and Sam. Never in his entire life had Ratchet wanted to hit the weapon specialist so hard that he would be unable to function for at least a stellar cycle.

Suddenly the femme, which he had thought was in stasis lock, stood on her own peds making him want to force her off her damaged leg. She snarled at Ironhide in a way that made Ratchet's medic programming run on overdrive. She was severely injured and should be in stasis lock, not threatening Ironhide. Glancing at Barricade and the other mech, who looked confused and worried, Ratchet noticed several little forms in the unknown mech's servos and a proverbial light bulb went off. If that mech was holding sparklings then the femme's sparkling protection programming would be active. With the way she was acting Ratchet had to say it was a very overactive program that was running.

Just as he was going to intervene the femme launched herself at the perceived threat with a furious roar when Ironhide turned his attention away from her. Ratchet was really getting tired of his actions being cut off right before he went to do them.

Ironhide's head whipped back toward the femme just as she landed on him. The two crashed down onto the street, creating an Ironhide shaped crater in the pavement below. Ironhide grunted as his helm bounced on the cracked pavement. The femme however seemed unfazed by the fall and started to literally tear at any of the weapon specialist's exposed wires with her bare servos. With a snarl Ironhide tossed the femme away from him before standing. The femme crashed into the wall of a building, falling through the structure to land inside. Growling Ironhide tried to fire his cannons only to find they refused to work. Ratchet automatically knew that the femme had damaged the circuitry needed for the cannons to operate properly. Slightly stunned that he was unable to use his cannons Ironhide prowled toward to hole in the building. Before he could get to the femme, she came flying out of the hole with two blades that were bent sharply in the middle drawn and ready to strike. Quickly Ironhide was on the retreat, dodging as many swipes from the deadly blades as possible. All too soon the large mech was backed against the wall of a building with the femme posed in front of him, her arms crossed so that if she moved even a little the blades in her servos would slice through the vulnerable neck cables of her captured prey.

Enough was enough. This nonsense needed to stop before Ironhide was killed by the femme, the femme got herself killed, or one of the sparklings that had been calling out to her the entire fight got away from Barricade and got hurt themselves. Stealthily Ratchet maneuvered himself behind the snarling femme. Her helm whipped toward him with a fiery glare right as he pinched the precise neck cable he was looking for. Then her optics offlined and Ratchet caught her as her frame fell toward the street. Ironhide vented with relief as the blades fell to the ground. He would never admit to the fear he showed in his optics when he looked at the femme.

"Thanks Ratchet. Now all we have to do is get the Con and we can-"

"_We_ will do nothing of the sort. _You_ will go find Bee and Jazz before I reconfigure you into a toaster," Ratchet growled, interrupting the mech in front of him.

Not wanting to face the wrath of Ratchet, Ironhide fled from the area to look for their comrades. It was time to carefully choose his battles and he refused to fight with the medic. Gently laying the femme on a level area of blacktop he turned his attention to a shadow that had appeared over him. Looking up and behind him he found the large unknown mech and sure enough a servofull of sparklings, though some looked like they may be minicons. Ratchet blinked at the different frames and wondered where on Earth all of them had come from.

**"You will fix Carrier, right? You will make her better and she will take care of all of us, right? You have to fix her, we need her!"** one of the seekerlings wailed in Cybertronian, tracks of leaking energon falling from the little mech's optics.

"I will try." He couldn't give them a straight answer until he was able to fully diagnose the femme and to do that he needed a medbay. Looking up at Optimus he commed the Autobot leader;

:: I need to get her to a medbay, even a temporary one. She will offline soon from this damage. Not even patching her will help at this point. ::

:: I will speak to Lennox and see how fast we can get you to one suited for your needs with supplies. Do what you can to help her survive. :: The Leader of the Autobots paused for a moment before speaking again, :: She was damaged by humans while trying to protect the sparklings, wasn't she. ::

:: I fear that is most likely the case, no Cybertronian other than Megatron would dare harm a sparkling and even he would have second thoughts regarding that now that there are so few Cybertronians left. :: the medic reasoned as he quickly took pieces of medical patch metal out of his subspace and welded it over the wounds. He would not lose this femme after losing Jazz already.

Glancing up at the sound of movement, Ratchet saw the large mech sit down on the other side of the femme. Within the little group in his servos there were several different frames of different colors and four uncolored seekerlings, one of which was a femme trying to desperately break away from the large seekerling mech holding her back. It seemed that Primus had blessed the next generation with a medic. He would have to see about training her when she reached her second frame.

**"Carrier,"** the little mech seekerling whimpered as the medic continued to work. The frightened and desolate look on his little face plates forced Ratchet to work faster. This femme was needed by these sparklings; he would slag himself if he didn't try his hardest to save her. No sparkling was going to be without their carrier if he had anything to say about it. Never again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Transformers characters. I do own my OCs so if you use them you need to ask me first, please and thank you.

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**Key:**

Sparklings talk/ Cybertronian= bold

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_Chapter 15_

**"Is Carrier alrigh'?"**

**"I think so."**

**"Ya don' sound sure."**

**"I have limited knowledge; Ratchet won't let me learn more. He says I'm too young."**

**"Bu' ya said-"**

**"Enough! All we can do is wait for Carrier to come out of stasis and all will be fine again."**

**"It would be easier to stand the wait if the other adults would leave us at Carrier's side. It has gotten to the point where we have to take shifts with the other group so all of us can spend equal time with her."**

Small child-like voices broke through the oppressive black fog that had been surrounding Jade for who knew how long. Most weren't familiar, though it felt like she should know them from somewhere. One voice, however, was very familiar. It sounded like Labtech if the long explanation and justification of his actions were anything to go by.

The voices were waiting for her. If Labtech was with them then the other voices had to be his siblings. Her children needed her so she couldn't stay here floating through this black fog like sludge any longer. Determination burned through her very being as she fought against the hold the think blackness had on her. It tightened its hold on her for a split second where Jade feared she would not break free, then it seemed the throw her out of the darkness with so much force that she crashed back into her body with an almost crushing force.

Gasping at the uncomfortable sensation the woman jerked up to a sitting position, eyes snapping open. The room around her was large with blindingly white walls, the smell of some sort of antibacterial substance floated in the air and there were several strange and frightening machines. For a panicked moment Jade thought that she was back in the hands of Project M and that Barricade had given her to them.

**"Carrier!"** four extremely excited voices cheered from where her head must have been laying.

Turning her head to look over her shoulder Jade gave a gasp at seeing her babies running toward her on the large metal slab like table she was currently occupying. They made it within a few feet of her before she swept them up into her hands and cradled them close to her chest not willing to let them go. They chattered at her as she checked them over for any damage. They seemed to be a bit taller, maybe by an inch or so, but other than that they seemed healthy. There were no dents or scratches, and the dirt that she had last seen on them had been washed off so their armor was nice and shiny. Seeing her children safe eased the panic that Project M might have caught them by just a little bit.

There was a large door off to the right which slid open to reveal a large robot she had never seen before. The robot was male, bulky looking, and painted the annoying color that might be called neon yellow green that she personally thought looked like recently vomited bile. He blinked blue eyes at her and the children before he huffed and walked towards them. There was a slight uplift to his lips so Jade cautiously guessed that he was amused at the situation.

"I see you're finally awake. You had all of us worried, especially the sparklings. You stayed in stasis longer than I thought you would, and that's saying something since I had to put Jazz back together back together and him being online was a Primus given miracle in itself," the horribly colored male rambled.

Jade stared at him, listening to him list off all the things that he had fixed on her. The list was surprisingly long; had she really been that injured? Jade turned her attention back to her children. Labtech was firmly latched onto her quietly sobbing in relief; he must have separation anxiety and this ordeal had to have caused him immense trauma. Healingblade was gently probing the seam where new metal had replaced the previous melted patch. Then there was Skymaze and Trapmaster who were equally attached to her and not willing to let go. It seemed as though she would be having the children with her constantly until they were sure she wouldn't disappear on them again.

"You're not listening to me are you?" The male's voice broke through her cluttered mind.

Turning her head to look at the male, Jade saw him watching her with an exasperated look on his face.

"I'm sorry; you lost me after listing off the injuries that you fixed. I appreciate what you've done for me, but I feel my children are more important. Where am I and where are the other children?" Jade launched off. The children she had saved in the city might be worried about her as well.

The male huffed in annoyance. "You are on the American military base on the island Diego Garcia. First of all I'll be escorting you around the base until I can be sure you won't go back into stasis. The sparklings sparked by the Allspark are currently being watched by Jazz and Ironhide which is where those four are supposed to be." He pointed at the children cradled in her hands.

Gingerly Jade scooted off the table and stood on the floor. The male was at her side in a matter of seconds startling her so bad that she jumped away from him and the table. Gaining her footing Jade nervously watched the male who watched her in return.

"Easy Femme, you're still weak."

"How could I possibly trust you?"

"Damn Decepticons," he muttered. "I'm the Autobot medic Ratchet. You should know I won't hurt you," he groused

"How could I know you? This is the first time I've met you," Jade returned.

Ratchet blinked before he had a blue light run over her person. Jade flinched away from the cold feeling it left behind. The medic hummed as he pulled some sort of tablet like object out of nowhere.

"The scan doesn't show any processor damage and I didn't see anything wrong when I was fixing you. So what could be the cause of the lack of information," he muttered more so to himself.

Jade felt her left eye twitch as he continued muttering as if she wasn't in the same room.

"I am in the room you know. It's rude to talk about someone while they're in the same room," she growled out at him. The hostile tone in her voice must have made him pause. "Anyway, I want to see the other children so either you show me the way or these four will show me." Jade gestured to the four winged children in her hands.

"Alright alright I show you the way." Ratchet marched through the door with Jade following behind him, matching his brisk pace. "Femme is in stasis for almost half a stellar cycle and she starts acting like she owns the place," he muttered.

"I don't own the place, my name isn't "femme," and stop talking about me while you know that I can hear you. It's rude and I don't want the kids to learn those habits," Jade snarled at him getting a glare in return. "Don't give me that look; if you don't want a response then don't speak out loud."

Growling in annoyance Ratchet turned his attention to opening the door in front of them. It opened outwards letting in a bright stream of sunlight and the distinct feel of heavy humidity. Stepping out onto the sun baked tarmac Jade blinked at the sudden onslaught of noise and activity. Humans ran around in all manner of army uniforms of civilian clothes doing all sorts of things, but what caught her attention was a group of large robots trying to calm down the children from the city. The large one was wrestling roughly with the large black robot that had threatened her in the city. The green four armed child was shooting any thing that came too close to him and the other five were running around avoiding getting caught by the much larger robots.

With a growl Jade stomped past Ratchet towards the chaos placing the four named children on her shoulders. The smallest ones saw her first and ran toward her and she scooped them up into her hands easily without breaking her stride. Several of the robots paused when she stormed past them and scooped up the suddenly cooing and calm green colored child. With all of the smaller children either on her shoulders or in her hand she marched toward the wrestling pair and stood over them with her unoccupied hand clenched at her side.

"That's quite enough, both of you will stop this instant or I will personally punish you both," her firm voice drifted over the suddenly silent tarmac. The child stopped and pushed the large adult away from him and hurried to her side. He paused for a moment before gently hugging her. He pulled away taking all of the smaller children into his hands so she could deal with the angry male robot he had been wrestling with that was now charging towards them.

"Where the frag do you get off, Femme?" he shouted at her which resulted in her punching him in the face. Having not expected the strike the male stumbled back and placed a hand at his face. He looked at the woman in shock as she stomped towards him seeming to radiate anger.

"You listen here you brute; I will not have the children learning any of your bad habits if I can help it. On top of that, you were being too rough with a distraught child that was acting out in the only way he knew how. I'll tell you this once and once only. You are not allowed near any of the children without my permission or me being there with you. Am I understood?" she growled at him while somehow looming over him even though he was taller than her by a fair amount.

"Why should I listen to you?" The male's voice would have come out strong if there hadn't been a small tremble accompanying it.

With a glint in her eyes she leaned in close to his face knowing it would make him even more nervous.

"I'm their adoptive mother and when it concerns them my word is law." With a slightly sinister smile Jade turned sharply on her heels and fussed over the children she hadn't seen when she had first woken up.


End file.
